Inflectional Morphology Derivational morphology involves a change of

Inflectional Morphology

ØDerivational morphology involves a change of class. Example: § Play (verb) + -er = player (noun) § Accept (verb) + -able = acceptable (adjective)

Inflectional Morphology • Inflectional morphology does not change word class/function/part of speech. • Inflectional morphemes inflect nouns and verbs.

Nouns • Inflection marks plurality in singular nouns. Noun (singular) “s” inflection Noun (plural) car s cars tables Irregular nouns involve a vowel change foot feet woman women

Nouns “s” for possession Ahmed’s book John’s car Man The man’s bag Student’s book Students’ books

There is no difference is sound when pronouncing a singular possessive noun and its plural form: The doctor’s car. The doctors’ cars.

“s” with verbs ØIndicates present tense agreement: He read + s He reads novels. She cook + s She cooks every day. It rain + s It rains in winter. He can be (Ahmed, John, Mark, Samir, etc. ) She can be (Mary, Samar, Heba, etc. )

“ed” past - For regular verbs, the past tense is marked with the addition of “-ed” at the end of the verb. Examples: • play+ed, work+ed, visit+ed, want+ed - Irregular verbs are marked mainly by a vowel change as in: sing sang sung take took taken write wrote written

“-ed” for past participle - He had studied hard for the exam last semester. - She had prepared breakfast before she left in the morning.

“er” comparative + est (superlative) • Bigger, taller, higher, • Biggest, tallest, highest

8 inflectional morphemes 1. S for plural Makes singular noun plural Car, cars 2. S for possessive Inflects a noun for possession John’s, Ahmed’s 3. S for third person Inflects a verb to 3 rd person sg. He works hard. 4. –ed for past simple Inflects a verb to the past simple She played yesterday. 5. –ed for past participle Inflects a verb to the past participle The bag was stolen. 6. –ing for present participle Inflect a verb to the present participle tense He was playing football 7. –er for comparative Inflects an adjective to the comparative degree This room is bigger than the other one. 8. –est for superlative Inflect an adjective for the superlative degree This room is the biggest in the building.

Morphemes Free Bound Inflectional Derivational Prefixes Do not usually change word class Suffixes Change word class Do not change the word class